Some of you have mailed me to write something on Kuselan business and its prospects, since Superstar is appearing in a guest role. I think this is the right time. The following report has been prepared by reading some weeklies and websites and inquiring some media circles and Kollywood sources. It may not be 100% accurate. However a sincere attempt, which may throw some light on the topic.Hot....hotter....and hottest
Do you know the hottest thing being discussed in Kollywood and distributors' circle?
Is it about a grand movie scheduled to release this summer or post summer?
Or is it on a movie which had its audio release just few days back?
No....No....No.....
Then what's the hot, hotter and hottest discussion topic?
It is KUSELAN's business yaar.
What if Superstar appears in guest role?
What if Superstar appears in guest role?His mere presence will move anything Though Superstar has said that he is appearing only for 25% scenes of Kuselan and confirmed that he is only giving guest appearance - distributors are much vying to secure territories.
Corporate competition
Corporate giants like Reliance owned Adlabs, Studio Giant Gemini Studios and Distributing giant Pyramid Saimira, and Robot producer Ayngaran International are intensively competing to acquire the distribution rights of the film. Though it is understood that Superstar never wants to peep into the business of the movies he acts - it is believed that the rights will be sold only to those whom he points finger.
Above Rs.50 crores
It is estimated that combined rights for Tamil and Telugu alone would touch approximately Rs.50 crores. Other rights like FMS, Satellite, Audio and North India and Mumbai has not been included. Since Ayngaran reaped huge profits from Sivaji, Karunamoorthy doesn't want to miss Kuselan at any cost. This is the 'outright' purchase detail. For Sub-distribution almost all leading distributors want to release the movie. But if the movie is purchased by any of the giants we discussed above - they will decide to whom they shall re-sell for sub-distribution. I believe that though Kuselan budget is nearly one third of Sivaji's - it's collection would more or less match Sivaji. Am i right?
Note1: I heard that two songs sung by Shankar Maha Devan and Hariharan have been already completed for Kuselan.
Note 2: One important thing which i want to reveal is Pyramid Saimira which distributed Sivaji in many theatres in India and Malaysia tasted lumpsum profit from it (around Rs.120 crores). After that it has not been able to reap profit in any movie except Billa. In short, Post Sivaji, Pyramid Saimira has distributed more than a dozen movies and incurred heavy loss from them. (Seeman's Vaazthukkal is the utmost flop in Saimira's distribution history)
Note3: In Telugu, whoever acquire the rights would increase the price and re-sell it completely to another third party thereby tasting very immediate returns.
Note 4: The positive aspects discussed above are applicable to Superstar's movies alone. For other movies - no such questions or stories. Because concerned producers will exhaust to find at least a single worthy distributor who is ready to bet on that particular actor at least in one area and that too in MG. (Minimum Guarantee). But if you give a mike to them, they will bark aloud as if they are big shots of Kollywood. (Unsaleable kings!!)
- Sundar
